Boston Bomb Scare: Advertising Hoax

This sure is something. Who's the Einstein that thought this one up? Hope someone is quick to send a bill to Time Warner. Why the fugg should my hard earnered money go to pay for their advertising? Very poor taste. Talk about irresponsible.

Boston Devices a Cartoon Marketing Ploy

Jan 31 5:17 PM US/Eastern

BOSTON (AP) -- At least nine electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city Wednesday in what a cable network said was a marketing campaign for a late-night cartoon.
Highways, bridges and a section of the Charles River were shut down and bomb squads were sent in before authorities declared the devices were harmless.

"It's a hoax _ and it's not funny," said Gov. Deval Patrick.

Turner Broadcasting, parent company of Cartoon Network, said the devices, which consisted of magnetic, blinking lights, were part of a promotion for the TV show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force."

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This is absurd! This can't even be called a hoax. If someone had called the police and said these were bombs, then it wouuld have been a hoax! They were a bunch of advertisement devices and it was done in a dozen other cities. The city of Boston looks like a bunch of morons. The mayor wants an apology from Turner Broadcasting for what...putting a panel with glowing lights outdoors to advertize a friggin cartoon. What a bunch of self-important grandstanding jerks. Here's something you can do City officials: Solve some murders, fix the schools, and clean the sidewalks. Dumbarses!

Even though this ad gimmick messed up my day, I'm not particularly upset at the Cartoon Network for hustling to make a buck and I'm not too upset at the authorities for being extra cautious. Its a post 9-11 thing and we need to learn to deal, especially here in Boston. The terrorists felt particularly comfortable here on 9-11, they had 1/2 of their teams depart from Logan Airport. I've always been a little ashamed about that. So I have no problems with our authorities going a bit further than everyone else.

BTW, 128 northbound at 5PM is amazingly smooth. I abandoned Storrow drive and 93 because of these reports and went west on the Pike and then north on 128 and I'd have never stopped at all if some 18 Wheeler hadn't been stuck in the breakdown lane. The Big Dig really has changed everything about driving around here.

Unfortunately the two guys who were hired to build and put these things up(Peter and Sean) are friends of mine. The charge requires intent to cause panic, so I think they have a pretty good defense (even the state isn't saying that they did it with that intent, though they're still somehow charging them under that statute). Hold Turner Broadcasting and InterferenceInc.com responsible, but these guys were hired & told that a similar campaign had been done in other cities with no problem (which is true, only Boston reacted like this). I have no problem with the police checking it out and holding Turner responsible, but once they saw what it was they shouldn't have charged them with a felony.

The charge requires intent to cause panic, so I think they have a pretty good defense (even the state isn't saying that they did it with that intent, though they're still somehow charging them under that statute).

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Believe it or not, I agree with this. When I heard the definition of what they were charged with was "intent to cause panic" I said to myself that, as stupid as they were, there was no intent to cause panic. Furthermore, I was in Boston yesterday and while a lot of people were inconvenienced, I wasn't really seeing much panic around the place. It was more nuisance than fear.

Hold Turner Broadcasting and InterferenceInc.com responsible, but these guys were hired & told that a similar campaign had been done in other cities with no problem (which is true, only Boston reacted like this). I have no problem with the police checking it out and holding Turner responsible, but once they saw what it was they shouldn't have charged them with a felony.

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I think you're being a bit hypocritical here. You seem to think your friends shouldn't get charged with anything, but the big bad mean corporation should...? If a law was broken, why should only Turner be held responsible and your friends skate free and clear...? If someone hires you to do something illegal, you can't break the law and then say "go after the company that hired me, all I did was what I was paid to do." Either you're both guilty or you're both innocent.

Having said that... in this I case, I think that while both parties were pretty damn stupid, they are not guilty of maliciously trying to incite panic amongst the populace. I see serious fines ahead (Turner should pay for all the security used up yesterday), but no jail time.

The concept of Homeland Security under this administration is a ******* joke.

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Do you honestly think that the government will, or can stop, any and every threat that this country will face? Some people are really funny. It's only a amtter of time before something bad happens. I really hate to say that, but it's just impossible to expect a 100% success rate.

BE AFRAID!
BE VERY AFRAID!
This is absurd! This can't even be called a hoax. If someone had called the police and said these were bombs, then it wouuld have been a hoax! They were a bunch of advertisement devices and it was done in a dozen other cities. The city of Boston looks like a bunch of morons. The mayor wants an apology from Turner Broadcasting for what...putting a panel with glowing lights outdoors to advertize a friggin cartoon. What a bunch of self-important grandstanding jerks. Here's something you can do City officials: Solve some murders, fix the schools, and clean the sidewalks. Dumbarses!

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They look like morons? You see wired devices hanging from elctrical feeds over roads, under bridges, and on the highway, and people should have just ignored them. Especially when there were multiples devices being called in?

Judge Paul K. Leary seemed skeptical of the state's
case, telling [Assistant DA] Grossman that the law
requires that people must intend to create a panic to
be charged with placing hoax devices. This case, the
judge said, seemed to involve two men who relatives
say were paid to place unorthodox advertisements
throughout the city.

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Sounds like the case isn't very strong agains them. Time to free Peter and Sean.

Huh? So you think what they did was fine? I know they are your friends, but sorry, pulling an irresponsible stunt that cost the taxpayers millions of dollars is not "litering".

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What part of "intent" don't you understand? If they didn't intend to cause panic, they can't be convicted under the statute they were charged under. This is the same thing as putting an advertisement on a telephone poll, except people overreacted.

What part of "intent" don't you understand? If they didn't intend to cause panic, they can't be convicted under the statute they were charged under. This is the same thing as putting an advertisement on a telephone poll, except people overreacted.

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And yet, for some reason, you seem to be perfectly comfortable with the notion of throwing the book at the corporation that hired them. Why is that...? Just out of curiousity, what laws did they break - beyond such trivialities as not getting the proper permits to display outdoor artwork and/or advertising...?

And yet, for some reason, you seem to be perfectly comfortable with the notion of throwing the book at the corporation that hired them. Why is that...? Just out of curiousity, what laws did they break - beyond such trivialities as not getting the proper permits to display outdoor artwork and/or advertising...?

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I'm not interested in them being criminally charged, either. They should pay civil restitution for the money spent. If they're criminally charged, it should be something reasonable (like you said, not getting permits, etc).